Indian Shares Struggle For Direction Ahead Of MPC Decision

(RTTNews) - Indian shares struggled for direction in early trade on Friday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's interest-rate decision.

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra will announce the policy outcome at 10 am after the two-day review.

Most economists expect the central bank to cut its benchmark repurchase rate by a quarter point to 5.25 percent.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was up 4 points at 85,269 while the broader NSE Nifty index edged up by 6 points to 26,039.

IT, financial and auto stocks traded higher, with Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki India rising around half a percent each.

HCL Technologies edged up slightly after it partnered with Strategy& to boost large-scale data analytics using AI-powered solutions.

Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC fell about 1 percent after setting up a wholly owned subsidiary in GIFT City, Gandhinagar.

RailTel gained 1 percent on securing a Rs. 63.92-crore order from the CPWD to design and set up an ICT network.

Zen Technologies rallied 2.4 percent and Diamond Power Infrastructure advanced 1.7 percent on winning new work orders.

Deepak Nitrate added 1.7 percent. Its arm Deepak Chem Tech has commenced operations at its newly set up nitric acid facility in Vadodara, Gujarat.